Running... From Coast to Coast and Back Again - Tink 1/2 TR, Princess TR

[disneygeeks]

we stayed 1 time at Animal kingdom lodge and thought it was fantastic as well...just going out on your balcony and seeing all the animals was great. On TSM I always beat my DW but she really tries but not so far.

 

[disneygeeks]

Last week we had another movie night. This time, we chose Bolt. I like Bolt mostly because I think Rhino’s character is hilarious. He has some of the best one liners. For dinner this night, we had Bolt’s Bones (Hot dogs and cheese wrapped in a croissant and shaped like a dog bone):

As a side we had macaRHINO & cheese (macaroni & cheese):

And for a movie snack/dessert, I made puppy chow:

We watched the movie early in the evening so DF actually made it through the whole thing without falling asleep. We also had a couple other viewers for our movie night, our puppies Lilo & Otis. Lilo spent the first half of the movie running around and barking at the screen whenever bolt barked then got bored and fell asleep. Oty however, very much enjoyed the movie and spent it sitting at the end of our ottoman watching intently:

So what is your snack/dessert puppy chow?

 

[disneygeeks]

your guys anniversary is 1 day before ours. when you 2 get married next year we will be celebrating our 23rd anniversary...just seems like yesterday we met...goes by quick so enjoy while you can and yes were still enjoying it. Sorry for all the messages but just have to catch up.

 

[20thingamabobs]

Sorry it's been so long since I updated... we hit a busy season at work and school got a little crazy but I'm back and ready to post about the actual race portion of our Disneyland Half Marathon trip!

Day 4: September 4, 2011 – Disneyland Half Marathon / Disneyland & California Adventure This day started at the very ugly hour of 2:50am. When my alarm went off, I was not ready for what lie ahead. I laid there for about 10 minutes before finally climbing out of bed. I went into the bathroom to wash my face, brush my teeth, and apply a small amount of make-up – had to make sure I still looked good running . When I finished all that, I woke DF up so he too could get ready to go. I finished up by getting all my running gear on including my race belt, iPod, and Garmin. DF took a pic of me as I laced up my shoes:

About 10 minutes before we were to leave, I woke my dad up so he could take us over. When we got in the car, I took a picture of the time:

Yuck. We made the short 5-10 minute drive over to Disneyland. Now, I found this to be a little confusing. When we pulled into the parking garage, those parking were directed to the right and drop offs were directed to the left. We hopped out of the car at the designated spot and my dad pulled away. Well, there was no signs or people to direct us so you just had to take your best guess as to where you were suppose to go. We did our best to just head towards the loud music but it was kind of hard to tell where it was coming from inside the garage. When we exited the garage, we saw a lot of lights and headed in that direction. We saw a bunch of people and I got excited but soon realized that this location was for volunteer check-in. We continued walking and finally came upon the right area. We took some time to take it all in and made our first of many bathroom breaks. After a little while, we decided to go ahead and drop our bag off at the bag check area. Our bag check volunteers were awesome! They cheered for us as we walked up, wished us good luck and even complimented me on my outfit. Their energy was amazing for that early in the morning. Here's the waiting area:

I was so excited because we were in the Lilo parking lot so I had to take picture for our puppy Lilo:

With our bags checked, we walked back towards the front of the parking lot near the stage. We spent the time until the corrals opened just listening to the DJs fun facts (i.e. the youngest runner was 14 while the oldest was in their 70s) and the music.

About 10 minutes before the corrals were to open, we left the staging area and walked over to the gate. There was a young guy and girl there dressed as Kevin and Russel, they had done an amazing job on their costumes and I wish I would have gotten a pic. Finally, the gates opened and we made our way to our corral D:

We were one of the first ones in and were right in front of the gate. As more and more people filtered in, it became evident that there wasn’t nearly enough room for everyone. This meant that there were people from Corrals E-G just stuck in the middle with nowhere to go. The volunteers had said they would make them move but they never did. Quite frankly, I don’t know how they could have. It wasn’t a huge deal except that we were no longer in the front of our corral which was a little disappointing:

That's all the stuck people.

Now there was more waiting. I whiled away the time stretching and getting my iPod and Garmin ready to go. Also, I forgot to mention, once I had entered my corral, there was no way of going back out to go to the bathroom and unfortunately, I had drank a good amount of water and the start of the race was taking forever to get there. But, finally it was time for the start of the race.

Corral A was up… 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1… Nothing. Um, where were the fireworks? All they had was a big screen that said Go. Rather anticlimactic compared to what we’d seen in WDW but nonetheless, they were off. This pattern continued for 2 more corrals before it was finally our turn. Here’s some pics on our way to the start:

It was our turn. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1…

We were off. We shuffled our way to the start line and eventually were able to start running. I made it about a half mile into the race when I realized just how bad I needed to use the restroom thanks to all that water. I told DF I would need to go at the Mile 1 marker before entering the park. I tried to ditract myself by looking the hotels:

I kept a close eye on my garmin and finally the long line of porta potties came into view. I made a beeline for them. I went as quickly as possible but there was still quite a line. When we came out, we washed our hands and then joined the masses again to cross under the Welcome sign to the parks:

We ran into California Adventure first:

I was a little disappointed we didn’t get to see more of DCA but before I knew it, we were crossing the walkway between parks and entering Disneyland:

Continued Next Post...

 

[20thingamabobs]

Finally we crossed through the Disneyland entrance:

As we were entering Main Street, I stopped briefly to grab a pic of Mile Marker 2:

Running down Main Street is always one of my favorite parts of the races:

What was even better, was half way down the street we saw my parents and brother waving at us! Here’s the pic they took as we ran past:

Oh, so I know I have “monkey arms” (that was my brothers term), I was throwing my sweatshirt to them so I could reuse it at another race. We didn’t really stop to chat, we just kept making our way towards the castle. It was a similar course to WDW:

At the hub, we made a left into Tomorrowland before banking left again to head towards Fantasyland. Here was what we saw along the way:

There were lots of characters out and I had my eye open to “the one”. I make a rule that I will only stop for one character meet & greet per race so I try to make it a special one. We chose Phineas & Ferb in January, Mickey & Minnie at ESPN, and the plane scene at Expedition Everest. In fantasyland, we saw lots of characters:

The Three Fairies were riding the carousel and as we banked left again to head through the castle, I saw the pic I needed. There, with no line, was ….

Maleficent!

I was a little upset afterward that she took the pic so fast and we look funny but I was still excited to get it. Then, it was finally time to run through the castle! This part always gets me!

Once through, we stopped for a pic in front of the castle:

Then we turned right to head towards Frontierland. Here’s what we saw:

Continued Next Post...

 

[20thingamabobs]

We exited into the backstage area by Splash Mountain. Here’s everything that was back there:

We also found Mile 3 backstage:

Then randomly, we went back into the park in the Toontown area. So I took some more pics:

Then we exited again and were on our way into Anaheim:

I have to say that from this point until about Mile 8 ½… it got super boring. There was great support from fans but there wasn’t much to look at other than your typical city. There were houses and fast food restaurants. There was the occasional entertainment but nothing like in WDW. Either way, here’s all our Mile Markers and the entertainment we did see:

Around Mile 8 ½ we saw the Honda Center and I took some pics:

Continued Next Post...

 

[20thingamabobs]

Then we hit Mile 9 and started to see Angels Stadium. DF is a big baseball fan. He played in college and was on his way to set the school record for the most wins until he tore his labrum during the summer between our junior and senior year. Right before the stadium, there was a GU and water stop so we sucked those down and then made our way into the stadium. Here’s our experience:

Santa Ana River

I thought it was pretty cool except for the fact that we had to stop after to dig little pieces of sand out of our shoes. The next 2 ½ miles were pretty boring again. But here are some pics:

At Mile 12, we were running at California Adventure again. We never really entered the park but there was some entertainment in the back stage area.

By this point, I was so thankful that the race was almost over. I had been feeling pretty good but it was starting to get REALLY hot out and that was just bogging me down and with the added heat, my feet felt like they were on fire. We had been following a Run 1 mile, Walk 1 minute pattern and that last walk break went too fast. I just kept pushing though and finally, we started to hear the glorious sounds of the finish line. We rounded a bend and it came into view:

We kept running and I snapped a pic of the Mile 13 mile marker and scanned the stands for my parents and brother. We waved and then made our way to the actual finish line:

Continued Next Post...

 

[20thingamabobs]

It felt good. We made our way over and got our finisher’s medal:

Then we were directed towards another area where we the cut off our green wristbands and we exchanged them for our Coast to Coast medals:

That felt even better. I love the Coast to Coast medal and it was so nice to have one of my own. With our medals around our necks, we made our way back to the baggage claim area picking up our food bags and some water on the way. Our wonderful volunteers were there again just as spunky as they were when we dropped off our bag. They cheered for us as we made our way into the tent and again as we exited telling us congratulations numerous times. We didn’t walk too far when we stopped to collect ourselves. I pulled out my phone and arranged a place to meet my family and DF called his family to inform them that we were finished running. We exited the holding area and waited for my parents. When we found them, my brother took some pics of us with our medals:

We made the walk back to the parking garage and several people congratulated us along the way. A couple people even stopped us to inquire about our coast to coast medals. Once in the car, we made the short drive back to our hotel. My parents and brother laid down while Ian and I got ready for the rest of the day. Ian hopped in our shower so I went in my parents room to shower. When DF got out and dressed, he laid down as well. I finished getting ready and woke everyone up. We packed up our bags and headed back out to the car. We loaded it up and headed back to Disneyland! We parked and then headed down to the shuttle over to the parks. My brother didn’t have a ticket so he bought a new Annual Pass. Then, it was time to head into the parks!

 

[disneygeeks]

so good to see you back here. It looked like it was a decsent morning running, no rain and not to overcast

 

[disneygeeks]

well congrats on the finishing the race and you got some great pix as well. I like the looks of the medals, keep those forever now

 

[Shannon84]

I LOVED all of your updates about the race!! I have never been to Disneyland so it is so cool to see all the pictures of it!! How awesome that your family was able to see you in the park running towards the castle and again at the finish

I can't believe it, you must be the only person in the world I know who looks happy and cute at the beginning, during, and after 13.1 miles I LOVE the costume, especially the ears, thats awesome it stayed in!! I really want to do a costume for the marathon but I am scared I have enough to worry about without a costume

The Coast to Coast medal is AWESOME!!! I am beyond jealous!!

 

[dismagiclover]

I love all of the pictures from the race. I ran it back in 2007 and they really have changed the routes through the parks. The Coast to Coast is so cool! Don't think I'll ever get one of those though.

 

[20thingamabobs]

so good to see you back here. It looked like it was a decsent morning running, no rain and not to overcast

well congrats on the finishing the race and you got some great pix as well. I like the looks of the medals, keep those forever now

It was a beautiful morning to run but once the sun came up, it was super hot! Thanks! I love my Disney medals and display them proudly!

I LOVED all of your updates about the race!! I have never been to Disneyland so it is so cool to see all the pictures of it!! How awesome that your family was able to see you in the park running towards the castle and again at the finish

I can't believe it, you must be the only person in the world I know who looks happy and cute at the beginning, during, and after 13.1 miles I LOVE the costume, especially the ears, thats awesome it stayed in!! I really want to do a costume for the marathon but I am scared I have enough to worry about without a costume

The Coast to Coast medal is AWESOME!!! I am beyond jealous!!

I think Disneyland is fun to visit, but I do notice that it doesn't have quite the same "home" feeling as WDW just because I'm not as familiar with it. I was so excited that my family got to see us run! Plus, they got some fun pics!

HAHA, I think it's the skirt that gives off that look but I'm really just a sweaty hot mess like everyone else . I bought my ears on etsy.com, they were barretts which I think really helped keep them in plus, I didn't even notice them which was great! I think wearing a costume is fun but it's about pick the right one. For the most part, I wore running spandex and an Under Armour tank top... I just put the skirt on over top and like I said, I wore barrett ears so they were easier to keep on and i didn't notice them as much as I would have had I wore a headband version. I love dressing up in costume. When I do my update on wine & dine you'll see that we dressed as Princesses using the same concept. For Jan, I've already started my costumes! Can't wait to share them!

I love all of the pictures from the race. I ran it back in 2007 and they really have changed the routes through the parks. The Coast to Coast is so cool! Don't think I'll ever get one of those though.

Yea, I noticed from past reports that the course seemed different than what I read. I was disappointed we didn't see more in DCA. And since the streets aren't Disney property like in Florida, there's a lot less entertainment but it was a cool experience none the less and I would do it again and recommend it to anyone. I LOVE the Coast to Coast medal so much. As soon as I saw it, I knew I needed one. It's a little easier for us though because since my brother lives in CA, we don't need a hotel and we ate dinner at his house most nights leading up to the race.

 

[20thingamabobs]

As we headed out to the parks, I’m pretty sure I was the only one ready to go. But I made sure to make it clear to everyone that if I could run 13.1 miles and still make it through the parks then they weren’t allowed to complain.

We made the short drive back over to the parks, found a spot in the garage and made our way down to the tram. It was already really hot out but I didn’t care. When we made it to the parks, the first thing on the agenda was to upgrade my parent's tickets from base tickets to park hoppers and my brother upgraded his to an Annual Pass. With that taken care of, we headed into our first park… Disney’s California Adventure. There were two things that I wanted to do more than anything this day so that’s where we were headed. First things first… a fast pass for that night’s showing of World of Color. I’d read all about it when they were building it but had put off watching anything on it until I could see it in person. My brother had raved about it so I didn’t want to chance missing it. While we getting our Fast Passes, my brother’s friend, Rachel, who would be spending the day with us, arrived. They met on the set of CougarTown and Rachel was working as Busy Philips assistant. Well, with our fast passes in hand, we were off to the second thing I’d been wanting to do… ride the new Little Mermaid ride! Here’s all the pics I took:

She was singing about 20thingamabobs here! It was like she knew I was there!

After Little Mermaid, we decided to make our way over to Disneyland. We ran into these two having a dance party along our way:

Then, it was into the park that started it all. I had made us a reservation at the Blue Bayou for lunch so that’s where we headed first. I love this restaurant. It over looks the boats as they head into Pirates of the Caribbean. The salads are amazing and the Monte Cristo sandwich is yummy. Unfortunately, I wasn’t feeling too good so I only picked at my food. It’s really dark in here so I also didn’t take any food pics.

After lunch, I walked into the Pirates Gift Shop where I bought one Pirates vinylmation. I got one that I wasn’t crazy about but since I didn’t have any Pirates, I decided to keep it. We also walked through the pin store to get 2011 Disneyland pins and I tried trading vinyls but they didn’t have their trade box. Finally, it was time for rides. Being Labor Day Weekend, the parks were packed so we didn’t have a lot of hope on getting much done. I wanted to ride Matterhorn but it was down so we headed to Nemo instead:

I love this ride. I just think it’s different and I love the Nemo characters. My brother was hoping to check out the new Star Tours next but it too was down so we made our way to frontierland instead. On our way across the park, we stopped for a castle pic:

DF and I had visited Disneyland back in 2005 together but the castle was under construction so I’m glad I finally got a picture! I was pretty hungry by this point since I didn’t really eat my lunch so I picked up a Mickey Pretzel as a snack:

How cute is that!?!? Next up was Big Thunder. We had to stand in line for a while but it wasn’t too bad. However, about half way through the line, the group of three girls behind us asked if we were familiar with Space Mountain. My brother said yes and the girls proceeded to ask if he thought it was ok for to ride if you were pregnant… UH, NO! My brother very nicely said that he completely would not recommend it as it can be pretty bumpy and jerks you around the corners. He then turned back towards us before turning back around to finish that “he wouldn’t be riding Big Thunder pregnant either…” Unfortunately, I think they may have ignored his advice… and she had a baggy shirt on so without her saying something, I doubt anyone else would have known she was pregnant… We got split up from them towards the end of the line so I never saw whether she rode or not but I sure hope not.

Either way, here is m family waiting for our wild ride:

It was starting to get late by this point so we decided that we better head back oer to California Adventure if we wanted to get some more rides in before World of Color.

Continued Next Post…

 

[20thingamabobs]

I find today (Dec. 8, 2011) to be a very exciting day. You see...

6 six years ago today, DF and I started dating
6 months from today, we'll be at our rehearsal dinner
6 months and 1 day from today, we'll be getting married

and

6+1 days (1 week) from today, I'll be heading to Disney World! (sorry, I was trying to stick with the 6 theme

That's right, today we did our one week wiggle until our next trip!

Needless to say, I've gotten more than my fill for my Disney addiction in 2011 as this will be my 5th trip in the calendar year (plus a trip to Disneyland). But, in my defense, this coming trip wasn't my idea at all. That's right, I didn't instigate it in the least...

I just didn't say no when it was proposed to me

Let me explain... As some of you may know, my parents have a time share at the Sheraton Vistana in Orlando. We usually trade it to go other places since when we go to Orlando, we stay on-property. But, apparantly, the Sheraton just opened a new section to their time share resort just down the street. In order to entice current owners to switch to the new resort (which my parents are interested in doing because it has better trading ability), they provided a special offer.

They would provide you with a 4-night stay in the new hotel plus a "free" car rental for $250. If you count the car as "free" that's like paying $62.50/night. or $50/night plus $50 for the car. Either way, it's a good deal. So, when they offered it to my dad, he called me and asked if I wanted to go back to Disney... uh DUH! Of course, I said YES! Then, we just had to pick a date. I had considered using it back in October during the time of the Wine & Dine but it seemed easier to stay on property then since I would be going with my friends. So, my dad suggested December. I loved Disney at Christmas last year and so I was so excited to make it back again this year! Only problem was... I'm in grad school. We had wanted to go in early December like last year but with my school schedule, that just wasn't going to happen. But, I'm happy to report that last night, I had my last class for the semester! I do have a final next Wednesday but it's open book and I have a full week to prepare so I don't feel too worried about it. So, our trip was born.

However, then we started looking at flights. I like to take the earliest flight in the morning of our arrival day and one of the latest flights on departure day. Well, the early flight was early alright but it had a layover in Chicago and my dad really played to fly nonstop. Only problem was, the nonstop flight wouldn't get us to Florida until 3:30 which is a total waste of a day when you only have 4 days in the parks. So, we compromised. We added an extra day! We are now taking a 6:15ish pm flight nonstop that arrives in Orlando around 8:45ish pm. But, I still get to spend 4 full days in the parks plus a partial departure day! So here's the final info:

Where: new Sheraton Vistana (not sure what the new section is called)

When: Dec 15-20, 2011 (yes, I'm worried about crowds but I think you'll see that our plans accomodate that)

Now, I know what you're thinking. The special offering was for 4-nights and we're staying 5... well, let's just say, I talked my dad in to giving my mom and I an early Christmas present for our last night!

Continued Next Post...

 

[disneygeeks]

We went down in october and rode on the little mernaid and were not to impressed, I think that we expected it to be more like finding nemo in WDW but gave it another chance later on and we actually did like it more the second time.
Did you like world of color?
We both loved the show itself but having to wait around for quite awhile kinda sucked but what can you do
Did you get to go on star tours?
It is an awesome ride, just loved it and my DW got to be the imperial spy 2 times and myself just once...so cool when they pick you out of the crowd.
Take care and have fun (how can you not have fun) on your quick little but fun trip to christmas wdw. Look forward to reading all about it when you get back.

 

[Shannon84]

We watched the World of Color on Youtube, it was AMAZING...I can only imagine what it looks like in person!

I am always hungry after running a race, but never can seem to eat! The Nemo ride and Little Mermaid ride both look really cool!!

I think if I were pregnant I would be scared to ride most anything but I am just paranoid!

I can't believe you are going again so soon!! I am so excited the marathon trip is coming up, but I am not looking forward to the race part

I love the math you did, even if you just add 1 it still works!! We did some sort of random math with picking our wedding date

 

[amazingact21]

Yay on another WDW trip. Christmastime is my favorite time to visit, so I'm super jealous right now. When I was down there last year, the crowds didn't get too bad until the 20th, so you might be all right.

I loved reading about the DL half marathon. I showed DH some of the pictures of the race course, and now he wants to do the Coast to Coast challenge. (I told him we'd have to wait a few years, first.)

Disneyland looks like so much fun; I can only imagine how cool it must be to visit the park that started it all. And World of Color! That had to be amazing.

 

[20thingamabobs]

We went down in october and rode on the little mernaid and were not to impressed, I think that we expected it to be more like finding nemo in WDW but gave it another chance later on and we actually did like it more the second time.
Did you like world of color?
We both loved the show itself but having to wait around for quite awhile kinda sucked but what can you do
Did you get to go on star tours?
It is an awesome ride, just loved it and my DW got to be the imperial spy 2 times and myself just once...so cool when they pick you out of the crowd.
Take care and have fun (how can you not have fun) on your quick little but fun trip to christmas wdw. Look forward to reading all about it when you get back.

I thought LM was okay. I mean it's my favorite movie so I like the songs and characters but I was disappointed that you don't get more of the story as you move through so quickly. I LOVED World of Color. I'll do an update on it soon.
We never did get on Star Tours but I think I'll check it out while I'm in WDW this week.

We watched the World of Color on Youtube, it was AMAZING...I can only imagine what it looks like in person!

I am always hungry after running a race, but never can seem to eat! The Nemo ride and Little Mermaid ride both look really cool!!

I think if I were pregnant I would be scared to ride most anything but I am just paranoid!

I can't believe you are going again so soon!! I am so excited the marathon trip is coming up, but I am not looking forward to the race part

I love the math you did, even if you just add 1 it still works!! We did some sort of random math with picking our wedding date

Yea, that's how I am after races too. Also, I would certainly not ride the "coaster" while pregnant... that's just crazy.

I can't believe I'm going so soon either but we got such a good deal, couldn't pass it up. I can't wait for my next half... I'm so addicted! It seems weird to be going to Disney and not having to pack race stuff just workout clothes!

Yay on another WDW trip. Christmastime is my favorite time to visit, so I'm super jealous right now. When I was down there last year, the crowds didn't get too bad until the 20th, so you might be all right.

I loved reading about the DL half marathon. I showed DH some of the pictures of the race course, and now he wants to do the Coast to Coast challenge. (I told him we'd have to wait a few years, first.)

Disneyland looks like so much fun; I can only imagine how cool it must be to visit the park that started it all. And World of Color! That had to be amazing.

Christmas is one of my favorite times at the parks too! I saw it for the first time last year and we didn't know when we would make it back at that time again so I'm so excited to have the opportunity to see all the things we missed! I really hope the crowds aren't bad... Plus, I'm hoping by focusing on Christmas stuff that we'll avoid ride lines.

Disneyland is fun and I love my Coast to Coast medal! It's one of my most prized possessions!

 

[20thingamabobs]

Hey DISers! Sorry I have been MIA lately but between our trip and the holidays, I've been super busy. We had a nice trip but it wasn't one of my favorites. Around day 2-3, it got REALLY busy which quickly became annoying and we weren't used to the heat due to the 30 degree weather we've come accustomed to here in Ohio so it took a toll on us as well. We were so over it all by our last full day that we didn't even go to the parks!!! So that being said, I don't think I'll write a TR for it. I think I'll just finish up my Disneyland half TR and then write my wine & Dine half TR. Plus, as you can tell by my countdown... I do have yet another trip coming up soon.

Let me explain. I love the half marathons and when I realized that this year is the 15th Anniversary of the WDW half, I couldn't miss the chance to earn the special medal. So, I signed up and planned the trip. DF decided to not run this time which meant me running by myself for the first time. I think it'll be interesting to see what it's like running by myself for the first time. But, that isn't all...

One of my grandma's all time Must-Do's was to see the Rose Bowl parade in California so shortly after I registered for the race, my family decided that this was the year to take my grandparents to the Rose Bowl. So, here's the plan...

Dec 31 (New Year's Eve): Fly to California (Mom, Brother, Grandparents, DF, and I)
Jan 1 (New Year's Day): No Plans, hang out in CA
Jan 2: Rose Bowl Parade, take my Grandparents to see the set of Cougartown where my brother works
Jan 3: DF flies home, rest of us go to Disneyland! (my Grandparents have never been)
Jan 4: Grandparents fly to Vegas, Mom, Brother, and I fly to Orlando
Jan 5: Hollywood Studios
Jan 6: Mom, Brother, and I run Family Fun Run 5k, Animal Kingdom, Magic Kingdom
Jan 7: I run Half Marathon, Epcot
Jan 8: Magic Kingdom, Mom and I fly back to Ohio, Brother flies back to CA

Crazy, I know. But, should be fun. I think the really crazy part is that we'll be in Disneyland on the 3rd and WDW on the 4th! We're staying at Caribbean beach Resort in a Pirate room which I'm totally excited about! Anyway, I think that's it, I'll let you know how it all goes!